Sunday, November 20, 2016

Before the Christmas baking season keeps a tight grip on me, I like to bake a few apple pies and cakes and tarts. This is a tradition I try to uphold every November. Being faithful to my personal autumn apple baking frenzy, I ususally bake a few old-time favorites such my Dutch Boterkoek with Autumn Apples (here) or my fancy Autumnal Cake with Vanilla Custard and Marzipan stuffed Apples (here). This year I was looking for a new recipe or a previously unknown twist to an old family favorite.

This past week the first Christmas markets have opened their doors around here. We even attended the first Christmas event at our kids´ school, and the smell of spices, almonds and baked goods reminded me, yet again, that I should be starting my Christmas baking soon – but not quite yet. There are still many wonderful varities of late autumn apples to be found at the farmer`s markets and there is still time to bake apple desserts.

I wanted to bake something a bit different looking for a special someone the other day, a true apple lover that is, so a Late Autumn Apple Tart with Fragipane came to my mind, a tart that combines a buttery crisp pastry with a sweet almond cream and tart apples - simply wonderful and hard to beat.

I took a look at the apple design on the fabric I had bought to dress the dessert table and remembered the apple-shaped cookie cutter I bought in the other day, and decided I wanted apple cut-outs on my tart. I love the way it turned out and have baked it three times so far - not bad for this busy time of year.

And if you are really hard-pressed for time, and who isn´t these days, you can even "cheat" with a pre-bought good-quality pastry case and store-bought pastry. I was told that this tart would make a beautiful addition to a Thanksgiving dinner, perfect for those who don't care for Pumpkin Pie too much.

First make the pastry: either by mixing the flour and butter in a food processor or by hand – rubbing the flour and butter together with your fingertips, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Add the sugar and mix in briefly, then add the eggs and 1 to 2 tablespoons of water.

Mix until the pastry just holds together.

Divide the pastry in two. Form discs. Wrap in food wrap. Place in the refrigerator to chill for a good thirty minutes.

Butter your tart/quiche pan and line the bottom with a round of baking parchment. Butter the parchment.

After the pastry has chilled, take one disc out of the refrigerator, roll the pastry out on a floured surface as thinly as possible,and use to line the tart pan.

Prick the base of the pastry all over with a fork.

Place in the refrigerator while preparaing the fragipane fillling.

To make the frangipane filling: place the butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt in the food processor and whizz until creamy, blend in the eggs, then mix in the ground almonds and cinnamon, if using. NOTE: alternatively, beat together with a wooden spoon if making by hand.

To prepare the apples: peel the apples, core and slice thinly. Place in a medium bowl and mix with a few drops of fresh lemon juice to prevent discoloration.

Take the pastry-lined tart pan out of the refrigerator.

Spoon the frangipane mixture into the pastry shell, spreading it evenly.

Then arrange the apple slices on top of the fragipane.

Take the remaining pastry disc out of the refrigerator

Roll the pastry out on the floured surface as thinly as possible, and using your cookie cutter, make some cut-outs- enough to cover your base.

Take the beaten egg and dip the edges of your cut-outs into the egg and arange the cut-outs on top of your apple slices.

Place the tart in the refrigerator while your oven pre-heats.

Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F) and place a heavy baking sheet inside to heat up.

Place the tart pan on the hot baking sheet, and bake in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes until the pastry is crisp and the tart is golden brown.

Take the tart out of the oven and place on a cooling rack for a good 15 minutes.

To finish, heat up a bit of apple jelly and brush the top of the warm tart with it. Decorate the border of the tart with chopped almonds.

Remove the tart from the pan and transfer to a serving plate.

This beautiful apple tart tastes as good as it looks. I used seasonal apples in my recipe. However, firm but ripe pears can be used instead – if you choose to use pears in this recipe, do not forget to use a pear-shaped cookie cutter (if you are so lucky to own one) or just about any other shape you have on hand.

And if almonds are not your thing, you could easily sub ground and chopped hazelnuts in this recipe.

To serve, I would not produce this straight from the oven. Rather, either enjoy it while just warm, or at room temperature, as is or with a generous dollop of softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Simple, but delicious and just a little bit classy. Perfect for that mid-November baking session.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

While I love soups, always have, always will, I am definitley a quiche kind of person. Soups are generally considered as pure comfort foods, but for me, so are quiches. Quiche recipes are like canvases. They are versatile and it is easy to get creative with seasonal vegetables when putting together a quiche recipe. I love adding different kinds of seasonal veg, local cheeses and copious amounts of soft fresh herbs. I love the way quiches smell when they bake and I love that you can bring left-over quiche to the office and pack slices in lunch boxes for the kids. Always appealing, always delicious, quiches can be served as an informal lunch, grace a buffet table or serve as an elegant appetizer. And quiches can come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Simply love them.

While much of our winter food is all about soothing and warming comfort food, fresh raw chicory packs a welcome, bitter crunch. It is a well known fact that lots of bitter foods are both tasty and very good for us. It is the bitter compounds in the likes of brussels sprouts and broccoli that provide vital nutrients.

So, why not waken up our taste buds and go for some chicory. Also known as endive in the US, or witloof (meaning white leaf) in Belgium, the humble chicory is a forced crop, grown in complete darkness, which accounts for its blanched white, yellow-tipped leaves. The story goes that a Belgian gardener grew it by accident in the 1840s. He was growing chicory roots to add to coffee and found some had sprouted tasty white leaves, a happy accident.

Chicory can be eaten raw or cooked and comes in red and white varieties. It has a distinctive, cigar-like shape, about 12cm (4.7 inches) long, and the crisp leaves have a mildly bitter flavor. It is available all year round. When buying chicory, make sure to choose the very best, by looking for firm, crisp leaves and avoid those with dark-green tips, as they are likely to be more bitter.

If the end of the chicory head is cracked or seems discolored, trim it off with a kitchen knife and remove any limp and discolored outer leaves. Then, depending on how you want to use it, either leave whole, separate the leaves, or slice lengthways into halves or quarters. Once cut, you can brush the leaves with freshly squeezed lemon juice to prevent discoloration.

Once picked and exposed to light, chicory leaves start to become more bitter, so they should be stored wrapped in paper to keep out the light and eaten as soon after picking as possible. Keep the wrapped chicory in the crisper/vegetable drawer of your fridge, that way it will last for around a week.

The following recipe of mine is a light tart that melts in your mouth, is feels like a real treat and it’s a cinch to make. There is not even any rolling involved. But if you prefer, you can make your own puff pastry for this.

Start by lightly buttering your 20cm (8in) loose-based fluted tart pan that is about 5cm (2in) deep. Line the pan with a round of baking parchment.

Place the puff pastry in the tart pan, pressing it firmly against the base and sides. Roll and crumple the overhanding pastry back on to the rim of the pan, lifting slightly above it. Prick the pastry with the tines of a fork. Place the pan on a parchment lined baking sheet and keep cool while preparing the filling.

Preparation of the Filling

Preheat your oven to 200°C (400°F).

On a medium heat, melt the butter in a large frying pan. Lay in the chicory, add salt and pepper, then sauté the chicory for a good ten minutes or until wilted down and golden-colored, add a bit of water during the cooking process if chicory looks to dry.

Add the sugar and let the chicory caramelize for two to three minutes, until light golden in color.

Remove the chicory from the pan and set aside to drain.

Add a bit more butter to the frying pan, add the sliced spring onion and minced garlic and sauté just until fragrant.

Mix the onion mixture into the chicory mixture. Set aside to drain and cool a bit while preparing the egg mixture.

In a medium bowl, combine the cream with the eggs, salt, pepper and the finely chopped herbs,

Scatter the caramelized chicory and onion mixture over the base of the pastry case and pour the egg and herb mixture gently on top.

Scatter the crumbled goat cheese on top and press down lightly.

Bake on the baking sheet in the centre of the oven for 25 to30 minutes or until the pastry is lightly browned and crisp and the filling is set.

Take the quiche out of the oven and leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing.

Serve warm or cold. As is or with a seasonal side salad.

The trick here, if you can call it such, is that even humble chicory needs a bit of careful cooking. I keep the heat no higher than moderate when I cook this vegetable. Too much browning tends to accentuate chicory’s characteristic bitterness, so I take care to let the color go no further than deep gold.

In this recipe, the delicate, creamy, barely-set filling is a festival of flavors - the saltiness of the goat´s cheese is offset in the most delicious of ways by the sweetness of the caramelized chicory that, at the same time, keeps a slighty agreeable bitter note. A must try recipe!

You should not limit bitter winter leaves like the pale and interesting chicory, or maybe its vivid, rounder cousin, radicchio - to the salad bowl – they are utterly delicious when cooked, too! And when cooked, chicory loses a little of the bitterness that some people find "challenging".

Chicory may be a bit of an acquired taste for some people but once you are hooked, there will be no turning back.

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